There are many methods that provide for authentication, verification and validation of user activity as well as for user identity. These technologies are used to ensure that an individual is the actual person claimed for the benefit of the activity or transaction. Today, many technologies have greatly reduced fraudulent transactions, but instances of fraudulent activity still occur. These technologies are employed, for instance, when an individual engages in some transaction that requires some degree of security. An automated financial transaction is a common example of a secure transaction requiring mechanisms to authenticate, verify and validate the identity of the individual attempting to perform the transactional activity. Primary examples of such transactions include accessing automated teller machines (ATMs) to obtain money or to perform some other banking function and the use of credit or debit cards at a point of sale (POS) to make a purchase. Even electronic commerce-based transactions (e-commerce) and online banking, where an individual enters financial information into a website form on a personal computer to make a purchase or to perform a financial activity, require some form of authentication, verification and validation. Typical means to authenticate individuals attempting a secure transaction include use of personal identification numbers (PINs) or some other type of information that is assumed to be known only by an authorized user involved in the transaction. Other means of documentation may also be used to verify identity, such as a driver's license or other form of photo identification. Even the use of biometric devices, such as fingerprint scanners, may be used to authenticate an individual attempting to perform a secure transaction. However, even with these and many other technologies, fraudulent activity still occurs and identity theft and misrepresentation remains a problem.
In addition, many existing fraud detection and prevention technologies are problematic because they provide a false positive indication of fraudulent activity in some circumstances. In addition to the fraud detection and prevention mechanisms already mentioned, other technologies may be employed such as behavioral profiling which is used to detect anomalous behavior. These technologies apply algorithms to analyze past user behavior when a user attempts to engage in some activity or transaction that is similar to a previous activity or transaction. If the individual's behavior when engaging in a secure activity is not consistent with that individual's past behavior, a likelihood of fraudulent activity may be deduced. Common examples of this situation are when an individual uses a credit card to purchase some product or service in a foreign country where they have never previously performed a similar transaction or when the amount of a particular transaction is significantly different from any previous transaction. This behavior may appear to be anomalous to a fraud detection system and the activity or transaction being performed may be terminated before any potential fraud is perpetrated. If this determination is a false positive indication and the individual is actually an authorized user, the user suffers the consequences of a failed transaction and the service provider is perceived to have provided a poor quality of service. Additionally, debit or credit cards may be stolen, PINS may become compromised and information meant to be held only by authorized users may become known to others which limits the effectiveness of some current fraud prevention technologies.